Elite Traveler March-April 2017

INSPIRE TOP JEWELRY

Graff LONDON, 1960

While many houses let the stones dictate the design of their high jewelry, perhaps none does so to the same extent as Graff Diamonds. In its history, Graff has acquired many record-holding stones, including the world’s largest natural blue diamond, The Idol’s Eye, weighing 70.21 carats, and recently the Graff Venus, the largest D Flawless heart-shaped diamond in the world. Its one-of-a-kind high-jewelry pieces showcase amazing diamonds and gemstones, sometimes in staggering quantities. The pictured emerald necklace boasts over 100 carats of diamonds and nearly 200 carats of emeralds, including the 38.68-carat center stone. Each cabochon-cut emerald falls delicately from a diamond setting and is separated by a pear-shaped diamond.

Mikimoto TOKYO, 1893 After many years of trial and error, in 1893 Kokichi Mikimoto successfully created the first cultured pearl, forever changing the jewelry world. At the time, it was a feat so incredible that the Emperor of Japan honored Mikimoto as one of the country’s 10 greatest inventors. In the modern era, a strand of pearls remains a symbol of classic elegance. However, Mikimoto’s high-jewelry collection celebrates not just the perfectly round, perfectly matched strands for which it is so well known, but all aspects of pearls. Round and sensual baroque pearls, some as large as 22mm, mix with colored gemstones and

De Beers LONDON, 2001

While De Beers’s mining operations began in 1888 and the company is known for creating the 4Cs of diamond grading and the slogan “A Diamond Is Forever,” its own line of high jewelry is comparatively young. As expected, it focuses on diamonds in all their glory and uses some very significant stones. After several imaginative high-jewelry collections, De Beers returns to its London home in its latest offering. From Albert Bridge to Elizabeth Tower and, in the pictured necklace, the London Eye, designers interpret some of the city’s famous monuments and views in diamonds. Here, round diamonds represent the

diamonds in motifs from both land and ocean. This high-jewelry necklace – half diamonds, half pearls – perfectly represents Mikimoto’s exacting standards for pearls. After all, Kokichi Mikimoto famously burned pearls he deemed inferior.

circle of the famous Ferris wheel, and marquise-set diamonds emulate the modern passenger capsules.

1. De Beers London View high-jewelry necklace in 18K white gold with 31.17 carats diamonds, by appointment, De Beers in New York, +1 212 906 0001, debeers.com 2. Graff Ring in platinum with 20.26-carat fancy intense yellow pear-shaped diamond 3. Graff Drop necklace in platinum and 18k white gold with 100.88 carats diamonds and 199.80 carats cabochon-cut emeralds; both price on request, available by appointment, Graff in New York, +1 212 355 9292, graffdiamonds.com 4. Mikimoto High-jewelry necklace in 18K white gold with 6–8.49mm and 8.9–13.99 Akoya cultured pearls and white South Sea cultured pearls and 29.41 carats diamonds, price on request, available by appointment, contact Danielle Heidelberger, +1 212 4574 600, mikimoto.com